Apparatus for producing composite filter plugs



Oct- 24, 1967 D. T. N. WILLIAMSON ETAL 3, 5

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING COMPOSITE FILTER PLUGS Filed Oct. 1, 1964liven/Tops M Mal/M Em flxm YMIZZ WWW Mfg 3,348,455 APPARATUS FORPRODUCING COMPDSITE FILTER PLUGS David Theodore Nelson Williamson andPeter David Loomes, London, England, assignors to The MolinsOrganisation Limited, London, England, a corporation of Great BritainFiled Oct. 1, 1964, Ser. No. 400,699 Claims priority, application GreatBritain, Oct. 4, 1963, 39,207/63 6 Claims. (Cl. 93-1) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE Apparatus is disclosed for making a composite rod ofcigarette filters, including powdered filter material e.g. charcoal. Anendless belt having spaced pockets is used to transfer the powderedmaterial from a hopper to spaces between filter plugs traveling in astream, with a continuous wrapper on a conveyor. Said belt has an upperrun closing a discharge opening in the base of the hopper, and a lowerrun traveling immediately above the stream of plugs.

This invention relates generally to apparatus for producing compositefilter plugs for cigarettes and more particularly to apparatus forproducing a complete filter rod having portions of powdered filtermaterial interposed between conventional plugs at regular intervals.

In the manufacture of filter-tipped cigarettes, it is a common practiceto roduce a rod of filter material wrapped in paper and thereafter tocut such rod into lengths sufiicient for individual cigarettes; notinfrequently the rod is first cut into lengths sufficient to furnishtips for two cigarettes, then placed between two cigarette lenghs (i.e.lenghs of tobacco Wrapped in paper) and united therewith by a suitableband, whereafter the doublelength portion of rod is cut in half to yieldtwo tipped cigarettes. Such rods of filter material have been made ascomposite rods, i.e. containing two or more kinds of filter material, asfor example one kind of filter material selected solely for itsfiltering efliciency, and another kind of filter material selected forits attractive appearance, the rod being then made and applied tocigarette lengths in such manner that the latter filter material appearsat the end of the finished cigarette while the former filter material isinterposed between the latter filter material and the tobacco.

Hitherto, however, the filter materials employed have been relativelycoherent materials, e.g. paper or cotton wool, but it is now desired toimprove the filtering efficiency by employing powdered material e.g.granules of activated carbon. With such material, it will be appreciatedthat there are practical difficulties in following the conventionalpractice of first forming short plugs of each filter material and thenmarshalling such plugs to construct a filter rod, even though someconventional plugs are still required, as powdered material is notsuitable for the exposed end of a cigarette. It is an object of thepresent invention to provide apparatus with which filter rod containingpowdered material may be made.

According to the invention, there is provided apparatus for producingcomposite filter rod including portions of powdered material, comprisingmeans for feeding filter plugs in succession on to a continuous wrapperwith gaps between successive plugs at regular intervals, means forfilling said gaps with powdered material, and means for folding saidcontinuous wrapper around said plugs and said material to form acontinuous rod.

The plug feeding means is arranged to move the plugs United StatesPatent M Patented Oct. 24, 1967 and the wrapper substantiallyhorizontally through a loading zone, and the filling means comprises anendless flexible conveyor band having regularly-spaced carrier pocketstherein, said band being so arranged that a lower run of the bandtravels through the loading zone imme diately above said plugs with thepockets facing downward above the gaps between successive plugs, furthermeans being provided for filling each of said pockets with the powderedmaterial between successive passages of the pocket through the loadingzone.

The folding of the wrapper may be performed by stationary foldingblades, generally known in the art as a garniture, and preferably suchblades are so placed that intitial folding, to bring the wrapper to a Usection, is effected at each part of the wrapper before that part passesthrough the loading zone, so that the powdered material is not lost overthe side edges of the wrapper.

In order that the invention may be fully understood, a preferredembodiment thereof will now be described in some detail, referring tothe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional elevation of part of a filter plug rod producingmachine;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary section on line VV of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary plan view, from above, of a detail of theapparatus shown in FIGURE 1.

As seen in the drawings, two toothed wheels 35 mounted on parallelhorizontal shafts 36 carry an endless conveyor band 37 so that it hashorizontal upper and lower runs as indicated at 38, 39 respectively.Below and parallel with the lower run 39 of band 37 is the top run of anendless conveyor belt 40, which in operation moves from right to left asseen in FIGURE 4, while wheels 35 rotate clockwise so that lower run 39of band 37 also moves from right to left at the speed of belt 40. Thebelt 40 is supported by a base-plate 41 across which said belt slides,and although the whole length of belt 40 is not shown it will beunderstood that it has a return run below base-plate 41, and at someconvenient place on said return run the belt 40 passes around a drivingpulley connected to a prime mover which is also connected to shafts 36by any convenient form of transmission device (not shown). The belt 40emerges from below the base-plate 41 to the right of said plate andthere passes over a guide pulley 42.

To the right of pulley 42 a further pulley 43 guides a continuous paperwrapper strip 44 fed from a supply reel (not shown), also belowbase-plate 41, said strip 44 being fed on to the belt 40. A successionof filter plugs P are fed from the right as indicated by arrow PF by anysuitable means (not shown) driven by the same prime mover on to thestrip 44 at regularly spaced intervals. As shown, each plug P is equallyspaced from the preceding and succeeding plugs but it is noted thatother arrangements are possible e.g. the plugs may be fed in pairs, withno gap between the two plugs of each pair.

The band 37 is toothed on its inner face, the teeth on said band beingcomplementary in the form to the teeth of wheels 35 so that the drive toband 37 is positive. On its outer surface band 37 has regularly-spacedpockets 45, the spacing of said pockets being equal to the spacing ofsuccessive gaps between plugs P and the connections from the commonprime mover (not shown) to shaft 36 and to the plug feeding means beingso arranged that each pocket 45 as it travels along the lower run 39,immediately above plugs P, is aligned with one of said gaps.

Above the upper run 38 of band 37 is a powder hopper 46, said hopperhaving in its base an elongated discharge opening of dimensions suchthat it is closed by said upper run 38. Immediately above said dischargeopening the hopper 46 has a set of vertical guide vanes 47 to promotesmooth flow of powder down tothe opening. It will be understood thatsuch vanes may be omitted if a powder having no tendency to clog isused, while if a powder containing relatively large granules, orotherwise especially susceptible'to clogging, is in use the vanes 47 mayneed to be movably mounted and provided with some form of agitator. Thepowder employed may for example be granules of activated carbon.

A retaining plate 48 bears against the outer surface of band 37 aroundthe right-hand wheel 35, the plate 48 being fitted with side plates 49overlapping the band and wheel slightly, so as to close the pockets 45as they pass from the upper run 38 to the lower run 39.

The base-plate 41 is of composite construction, comprising a main member41a to the upper surface of which two parallel spaced strips 41b aresecured. Together these three members define a central trough in whichbelt 40 and wrapper 44 travel. Below the lower run 39 of band 37 theform of the trough is as illustrated in FIGURE 2, but immediately abovepulley 41 the trough is wider and its central portion is more gentlycurved, to avoid a sudden change in the form of belt 40 as it leavespulley 41. p

In operation, as any given pocket 45 of band 37 travels from left toright in the top run 38, it fills with powdered filter material from thehopper 46, and then as that pocket travels round the right-hand wheel35, the powdered material is retained in the pocket by plate 48. As thepocket leaves that wheel 35 and enters the lower run 39, the powderedmaterial is free to fall and does so; as the pocket is aligned with agap between two successive plugs P, the falling powder fills said gap,being retained there by the adjacent plugs and by the wrapper 44 in viewof the trough-like configuration to which the said wrapper and the belt40 have been brought at this stage (FIGURE 2). During its passage alongthe lower run 39, each pocket 45 has time to empty itself completely,even at high speeds of operation, so that a measured quantity ofpowdered filter material is delivered to each gap between successiveplugs P. At the left-hand end of said lower run 39, each pocket 45travels round the left-hand wheel 35 to be filled again, while plugs Pand wrapper 44, with powdered filter material filling the gaps betweenthe plugs, are fed to the left for further folding and sealing of thewrapper 44 in known manner to produce a wrapped composite filter r-od.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for producing composite filter rod including portions ofpowdered material, comprising means for feeding filter plugs insuccession onto a continuous wrapper with gaps between successive plugsat regular intervals, means for filling said gaps with powderedmaterial, and means for folding said continuous wrapper around saidplugs and said material to form a continuous rod, said plug feedingmeans being arranged to move the plugs and the wrapper substantiallyhorizontally through a loading zone .and said filling means comprisingan endless flexible conveyor band having regularly-spaced carrierpockets therein, said band being so arranged that a lower run of theband travels through the loading zone immediately above said plugs withthe pockets facing downward above the gaps between successive plugs,including further means for filling each of said pockets with thepowdered material between successive passages of the pocket through theloading zone.

2 Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 including two toothed wheels rotatableon parallel horizontal shafts, the band being toothed on its inner faceand carried by said wheels in positive drive relationship therewith.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the further means comprisesa powder hopper so arranged above an upper run of said band that saidupper run closes an elongated discharge opening in the base of saidhopper.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, including a retaining plate arrangedto bear against said band so as to close the pockets as they pass fromthe upper run to the lower run.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which the folding means comprisesstationary blades, including blades arranged to fold each part of thewrapper to a U section before that part passes through the loading zone.

6. Apparatus for producing composite filter rod containing portions ofpowdered filter material comprising means for feeding a stream of filterplugs with gaps between successive plugs at regular intervals onto acontinuous wrapper, means for advancing said wrapper through anelongated loading zone, filling means comprising an endless flexibleconveyor band mounted so that a lower run thereof extends parallel toand immediately above said stream of plugs on said wrapper in saidloading zone, said band having a plurality of regularly-spacedpowder-receiving pockets therein, a powder hopper arranged to allowpowder to descend onto said conveyor band, and common driving meansconnected to drive the wrapper-advancing means and the conveyor band insynchronism so that each of the pockets of said conveyor band travelsfacing upwardly beneath said hopper and is filled with said powder afterwhich each of said filled pockets of said band travels to said loadingzone where it is facing downwardly and is in register with one of saidgaps between successive plugs whereby the powdered material istransferred to the gap as said pocket of said band and said gap continueto pass through said loading zone.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,761,065 6/1930 Bausman.2,141,044 12/1938 Rassman 22l--371 X 3,259,029 7/1966 Hall et a1. 9310BERNARD STICKNEY, Primary Examiner.

1. APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING COMPOSITE FILTER ROD CONTAINING PORTIONS OFPOWDERED FILTER MATERIAL COMPRISING MEANS FOR FEEDING A STREAM OF FILTERPLUGS WITH GAPS BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE PLUGS AT REGULAR INTERVALS ONTO ACONTINUOUS WRAPPER, MEANS FOR ADVANCING SAID WRAPPER THROUGH ANELONGATED LOADING ZONE, FILLING MEANS COMPRISING AN ENDLESS FLEXIBLECONVEYOR BAND MOUNTED SO THAT A LOWER RUN THEREOF EXTENDSS PARALLEL TOAND IMMEDIATELY ABOVE SAID STREAM OF PLUGS ON SAID WRAPPER IN SAIDLOADING ZONE, SAID BAND HAVING A PLURALITY OF REGULARLY-SPACEDPOWDER-RECEIVING POCKETS THEREIN, A POWDER HOPPER ARRANGED TO ALLOWPOWDER TO DESCEND ONTO SAID CONVEYOR BAND, AND COMMON DRIVING MEANSCONNECTED TO DRIVE THE WRAPPER-ADVANCING MEANS AND TO THE CONVEYOR BANDIN SYNCHRONISM SO THAT EACH OF THE POCKETS OF SAID CONVEYOR BAND TRAVELSFACING UPWARDLY BENEATH SAID HOPPER AND IS FILLED WITH SAID POWDER AFTERWHICH EACH OF SAID FILLED POCKETS OF SAID BAND TRAVELS TO SAID LOADINGZONE WHERE IT IS FACING DOWNWARDLY AND IS IN REGISTER WITH ONE OF SAIDGAPS BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE PLUGS WHEREBY THE POWDERED MATERIAL ISTRANSFERRED TO THE GAP AS SAID POCKET OF SAID BAND AND SAID GAP CONTINUETO PASS THROUGH SAID LOADING ZONE.